Who would have thought disrobing and standing in front of people in your underwear would be an omen?

As I drove away from my FORMER job, I was relieved, even if I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. I knew from my family that opportunity is forever present, but it’s up to us to discern that opportunity. The first month was challenging, and I started to doubt if my speaking out was the right thing. It had to be, staying silent for me was ugly and evil. I knew I could survive, but I cringed at the thought of the battle scars. I also knew I had a few more cards to play, and I had nothing to lose.

After a month, I put in my appeal of the termination. In their haste, my supervisors committed a no-no much grander in scale than the technicality that got me fired. I also started writing about all the illegal activity I could remember. A month into my battle plan, my money ran out.

Believe what you will, but I believe prayer works.

The next day, I got a phone call from another officer who had also experienced issues at the job. She informed me that the Prosecutor’s Office was doing a big investigation. By no means did enough heads roll, but they arrested a token few whose indiscretions were too much to conceal. Somebody was finally looking.

Example: An inmate complained that she was being forced to have oral sex with an officer known to “hate inmates”. He denied it, then the inmate produced a Ziploc Baggie filled with his semen, not an easy find in an all female facility.

While on the phone, the mailman came with one envelope from the Department of Justice, one from my attorney. The State of NJ wanted to settle my previous lawsuit (discrimination and harassment) and combine my suit into a Consent Decree. I’ll go into more detail in the “More Lemons Please!” book. I received a check, and I was able to exhale. However, I knew it would not last, and I had to find something.

After wearing polyester for so long, I needed to find a new fashion attitude. I went to a plus sized fashion convention, where I drew some attention. As I was looking at clothes, I was asked to try on different styles by one of the vendors. I ended up modeling at the convention including a line that is known as “fetish wear”. Actually, with the fetish wear, I got A LOT of attention. I found that I became adventurous going forward, and wow did I do it with a twist!

Later on, I also helped run that clothing company and found it strikingly easy. There was a system in place and all I had to do was follow the system. I learned that there were skills I got from law enforcement that I could re-translate. Once I knew what those skills were and saw the pattern, I was no longer one-dimensional. I stopped being stressed when I realized a change in definitions revealed more about what I could do. I packed up, walked away from my house in NJ and moved to the Midwest. I was part of a successful business.